In recent years, mobile wireless communications have become increasingly popular. Initial implementations of mobile wireless communications, for example in the form of cellular telephone networks, supported circuit switched voice communication services. The carriers developed short message service (SMS) technology to provide text and/or e-mail communications via the wireless communication networks. As the public wireless communication networks have evolved to provide greater bandwidth and packet based services, the industry has developed a variety of data services, such as web browsing, as well as a variety of services using multimedia message service (MMS) technology. Further, an ever increasing number of applications running on wireless devices automatically connect to the network for updates and notifications.
Wireless packet data communication is being provided with ever increasing transmission speed. The packet data communication allows mobile device users to expand the scope of their use of the mobile device, for example, to enjoy multimedia services at a speed comparable to those enjoyed via Internet connected personal computers (PCs). The high data speeds coupled with the plethora of available wireless services often lead to situations where account data usage limits are quickly reached.
User accounts supporting data services, alone or in addition to voice and messaging services, now encompass a vast majority of mobile wireless communications accounts. As the packet data communication has become prevalent, multiple forms of payment for network provided data communication services have evolved. Multiple account options with varying amounts of data usage, call time, quality of service and bandwidth allowable are available as postpaid and prepaid communications services. Prepaid service, in which a customer or subscriber has fixed availability of usage of a voice or data resource, is becoming as popular as postpaid options.
Prepaid accounts typically have limits set by the amounts of usage purchased by the users; however, even postpaid accounts may have significant usage thresholds, e.g., beyond which the users pay higher rates per usage or service is terminated. Using the example of a prepaid wireless service, the customer may purchase discrete blocks of time or amounts of data for making voice telephone calls or data communication via a cellular communication network, and then the customer purchases a new block of time or amount of data when the previously purchased block or amount is consumed. If additional block of time or amount of data is not purchased at this point, the respective voice or data service to the device is terminated. Alternatively, a customer may use a postpaid model in which a fixed fee is applied for using a certain amount of a resource within a certain time cycle (e.g., an amount of data or a number of minutes or messages within a month) and which, if used up, may entail a further fee for each use of further resources.
Upon connecting to the wireless communications network, the customer account is authorized and authenticated, and the network allows a voice or data call to proceed. For a prepaid account, the network monitors the customer's usage time or data and decrements from the customer's account. If the account becomes depleted or reaches billing cycle limits, the system can either prompt the customer to purchase more time or data, or the system can terminate the voice or data call. Another prepaid and postpaid plan option, however, enables the customer to budget an amount of airtime that will be used during a certain period of time, insuring that the budget will not be exceeded unless the customer desires more airtime. For example, a customer may opt to limit wireless communication airtime for specific phones in the plan (e.g., to prevent exceeding budgets allocated for their child). A similar plan may be offered for data communications, e.g. with a set limit on the amount of data.
With many of the service plan options outlined above, it is helpful for people to receive notifications of reaching a subscription plan limit or other pre-set usage limit. The wireless communication service providers, however, may not provide immediate notice of reaching a subscription plan limit. Typically, the amount of use with respect to the subscription plan limit is checked after the end of each data communication session or after the end each billing cycle. Further, these notifications typically rely on short message service (SMS) communication, which is not reliable. In this regard, SMS does not provide for feedback from the receiving mobile device to acknowledge receipt of the notification transmission. Limit-related notifications may not be received, and the sending equipment of the service provider does not know to re-send undelivered notifications.
Accordingly, when an account limitation is reached, the mobile device may not be aware that it no longer has data/voice access. Thus, the mobile device may continue pinging (e.g., requesting access to) the network, thereby causing significant overhead in terms of network and communication resources. Accordingly, there is currently no method or system to prevent applications of the mobile device from attempting to connect to the network. As mobile devices are becoming “smarter” by introducing an ever increasing amount of features that use the network, the network resource problem of blocking communication requests with the network is further exacerbated.